Part 35: Light and Dark Part 1: Peruluke-Chronos

Chapter 10: Light and Dark: Peruluke-Chronos

Welcome back to Let's Play Seisen no Keifu. Last time we liberated Thracia. Now: We set our sight on Grandbell by way of the Miletos District.







had built up a sizable fortune through trade. However, all that remained was a region dying out under the empire and Loputo Sect's rule.



death.



orders from Archbishop Manfloy. Fortune, hope, freedom, and destiny had all been stripped from the hands of the people. The Dark Sect's sacrificial rituals, claiming one life after another, left Celice with no other choice but to intervene.



Peruluke was free once again. The liberation army received a hero's welcome from the townspeople. Their very presence began to revive the once lost hope of Miletos.





Chapter 10: Light and Dark







: Hmph... The sacrifices to the Dark Lord must be quite a scare for the people.

They all go to pieces when their child is to be sacrificed. Especially the mothers...

: Heh heh... Perfect. Break them down until they've lost the will to live. They become like puppets and make for excellent slaves of the Loputo Empire.

How shall I handle the excess of children? This castle is full as it is.

: Have them sent to the capital. I'll groom them myself. After breaking all sibling and friendship ties, I'll match them up in a duel to the death. Those who survive shall go on to serve Loputousu as faithful new inhabitants of the empire.

But what about Emperor Alvis? He has made it clear that he is strictly opposed to any child hunts.

: Sheesh... Don't worry about my father. Just let me handle this.





I see. I think he likes you, dear. You think he'll ever make you his princess?

I don't know.

Ishtar, you listen up! We Freeges are of noble rank within Grandbell. And I'm originally from Velthomer, just as the Imperial family is. Who could possibly make a more worthy partner for His Highness than yourself!?

Yes, mother.

Now, on to these rebels... the ones responsible for killing my husband and my dear Ishtor. They stole Alster from us, as well. Celice and his family shall forever remain the Freege's bitter enemy! Ishtar, I'll stay here to confront the rebel army when they arrive. You go on back to Miletos and get the children ready to send to the capital.

Yes, mother.



However, a few children did slip past us in the disorder. How shall we handle it?

They what!? I don't believe it... Well, I'll have them all killed as a lesson to the others. Send my orders to General Ridale at Rados Castle to execute all escapees.













Not to mention that I'm bored to death. Well, you have fun while we're gone.

I hate to break this to you, but you're to capture and execute a few children who've escaped.

...You've got to be kidding.

As a soldier of the empire, you really haven't a choice now, do you... Unless you're considering betraying His Majesty...

Er... No, of course not. I would never even think it. Alright, we'll leave at once.

Hmph... Damn military types.









Oh god not again.

Heh heh... You've no memory of me, do you... It's just as well. Now come!

No way. Let... let go of me!

No use in resisting, my dear. Now come along quietly.

No... stop it... Prince Celice, help!!





Also... I can't seem to find Julia anywhere.

She's gone? How could that be!? She was just here...

I'm guessing the enemy found her. I can't help think otherwise. What could they possibly want with her...

Julia... Wherever you may be... We'll find you!








Welp, we just lost one of our best damage dealers and tanks, so that really blows. I sold her Relive Staff offscreen last chapter, so we still have that at least. Anyway, this chapter is one of my favorites in the game, and that's largely due to the music. And some events that happen later on, but for now let's just talk about the music. It's the perfect pallet cleanser after last chapter's music. It's upbeat, it's heroic and triumphant, it makes you feel like you kick ass when you're playing this chapter. And you probably do kick ass when you're playing this chapter, because by now almost all our units are kind of gods. If you're familiar with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, you may recognize this track as Side Battle, the track that plays during the trial maps. Although I'm pretty sure a segment of the track is present in Light and Dark that was cut out of Side Battle. But yea, it kicks ass, and it's probably my favorite map theme in the game.

Looking at the map itself, you can see that this is the first time in generation two that we've actually gotten a bright color pallet. Seriously, we haven't seen grass that bright green since Chapter 5. Looking at the map layout, we're in the east, and our immediate target is just southwest of us. There's some other castles along the way, and we'll end up at that castle in the north. Does it look familiar? Because it should. That's right, it's Chalphy, the place where everything started! If you actually compare Chalphy here with Chalphy in the Prologue, you'll see that the terrain surrounding both is actually near exactly the same, a very nice attention to detail. In fact, you could even see the tip of northern Miletos back in the Prologue. The only thing that's different is that some more trees have grown near the castle between then and now.





Before we sortie, we have some things to take care of.



Like promotions!





The most notable thing here is that Fee can actually use staffs pretty well now.







Lana can now actually fight, and has a pretty decent Magic score now.







Lakche's even more of a badass now.









Alright, an actually new promotion. Going from Dragon Knight to Dragon Master, Altenna gains a modest +3 Defense, +2 Strength and Skill, and +1 Speed.



The highlight here is that she gains Pursuit.



Alright now it's time for some item shuffling. Why not make use of Leaf's great weapon ranks? I give him Tornado because nobody else will ever use it, and 20 Might with 2 Weight is pretty damn great, even for his low Magic score. I also give him Recover so he can full heal anyone, and Rescue, which allows him to bring anyone within 10 squares adjacent to him. It'll prove useful for helping some slow people keep up.



Let's pimp the fuck out of Hanibal. He has some light weaponry, some effective weaponry, some strong weaponry, and a Berserk Sword, mainly because Fee didn't have room for it anymore. In retrospect, I should've given him an Axe or some two range like a Javelin or a Bow.



Fin picks up a Javelin because I'm tired of having him be useless at 2 range.



If you haven't notice by this point in the LP, I like Fee a lot. She was probably the best candidate to keep the Elite Ring after passing it around for the arena, or at least the best one that could afford it. I swapped out her Javelin for a Thunder Sword because with her respectable Magic, it's way better. I figured she doesn't need the Wing Clipper or the Berserk Sword anymore, because she can just kill most things with the Hero Lance pretty damn easily (it has about 60 kills on it at this point, so that's an innate 34% crit chance, plus extra if she's next to Arthur or Sety). Lastly she gets Live because I realized I really haven't been using enough staff users, and flying staff users are pretty great.



I gave Lana a Thunder tome so she can attack, gave her Relive instead of Live, and a Magic Ring to help out her Magic score. She bought this ring from Arthur, who has capped or near capped Magic, but after playing through to the next castle, I kind of regretted doing that, because Arthur would leave enemies with 4 or so health if he didn't crit. I may have him buy it back.



Tinny gets some weapon diversity and buys a Wind Tome and a Wind Sword. She kind of has shit strength, but maybe it'll help against mages or something.



I give Corple Lana's Live staff, a staff that doesn't cost a ton to repair.



I think Patty just gained a Steel Sword and a Wing Clipper here. Also I took this shot a bit too early, she sold the Pursuit Ring since she got Pursuit on promotion.



The big thing here is the Javelin, but Altenna also gets some less expensive weapons.



Oifey gets a Speed Ring to help him keep doubling, and maybe some new weapons. I don't actually remember which of those he had before.



Lastly, Johan gets a Skill Ring and the Pursuit Ring. Now he's a little bit more like Uncle Lex.





So something pretty cool is that Celice actually has really good Resistance for this game. I mean, I wouldn't say it's enough to call him a magic tank, but it's well into the double digits. So we'll send him out to strike first blood against the Dark Mages.



Then Shanan will come out and talk to him.





I've nothing more I can show you.

I've got you to thank for everything, Shanan. You're the one who brought me up with the sword.

Yeah, right. Hey, forget I even...

Are you alright, Shanan? You look tired. I wish I could give you some of my strength...

Hey, don't treat me like some old man. I can still run circles around you, you know...

Er... sorry. I didn't mean it like that.

Nah, don't sweat it. It's kind of you all the same.





Leaf also has a conversation with his sister.





Well, if you're sure... But if there's ever anything I can ever do for you, just let me know.

Thanks, Leaf. Actually, I was just thinking about Arion...

I thought so... I heard someone came along and just took off with him.

I heard it was Prince Julius.

The Imperial Prince Julius!? But why?

I imagine he's trying to sway Arion over to his side.

So it's safe to assume we'll be facing Dragon Knights once again...

Yes, I'm afraid that's a possibility.

Well, I don't think it's such a bad thing, Altenna.

Huh? Why's that?

Because Arion is still alive. That means there's still hope. Don't give up just yet, Altenna. Things are bound to get better with time.

Thanks, Leaf. I think that's just what I needed to hear.

Well, good. I just hate to see you down. I want you to be happy. Whatever it takes, I'm here for you, Altenna.





Then Lester and Patty have our last conversation for now.





Geez... Why're you such a grouch all the time?

I just get tired of you teasing me, Lester. That's all.

Do I do that?

Yeah, you do. You don't even treat me like the other girls.

You're a girl!?

...you creep!!

Hey, it's just a joke... C'mon, don't get so angry. I'm sorry, okay? I guess I just sort of like you, that's all. So I just sort of... you know.

What do you mean, you 'like' me!?

'Like' as in 'not hate'! Need me to repeat it!?



In addition to the HP gain, the two also get 100 love points together, since Patty is one of two eligible females that are still unpaired. I still intend to pair her with Shanan, I've just been forgetting to keep the two together. There are also a few other love boosting conversations to be had here if the participants are all unpaired.

Nanna and Leaf

Your Highness, everything's so run-down. I used to always hear how wealthy the Miletos District was.

Yeah... I never imagined the empire would have had this much an impact. This area was known to be the commercial centre for miles around. I'm sure it thrived during more peaceful times.

I always wanted to see the beautiful towns of Miletos and all its unique shops... I bet it was wonderful!

Nanna, let's make our way back here once the peace has been restored.

What do you mean?

I was told my parents once came to Miletos, and my father picked out a beautiful pearl tiara for my mother.

How nice...

I'd like to do the same for you someday.

Your Highness!

Geez... What am I saying? I've got to keep my focus on the battle at hand. There is an end in sight, Nanna. For now just give it all you've got!

Yes, Your Highness!

Faval and Lana

Hey, you're pretty tough for such a small thing. You're not scared being out here?

Well, I'd be lying to say I wasn't. But when I think of those poor children...

You like kids, huh?

Yeah, I really do. You were taking care of orphans before, weren't you? That's so wonderful, Faval.

Yeah, well that was Patty's idea, not mine. I'm really not all that big on kids, you see.

Hah... I know better than that. I saw all those crying children clinging to you when we were leaving the Manster District. You're like a father to them, you know.

S, stop it, would you? I just... Look, I gotta get going. I'll see you around.

(Faval leaves)

Haha... You're a good guy, Faval.

These conversations would also give +3 HP to Nanna and Faval.



Anyway, we end up like this with Aless leading the charge with his huge Resistance from Mistoltin. At this point in the game, you can get some pretty huge hit and evade boosts from lovers, leadership stars, and Charisma boosts I kind of try to set that up near the front lines here, keeping lovers together and having Nanna and Delmud Charisma giving boosts. If you were wondering, Tinny's the other unpaired female at this point, so I'm working on getting her to fall in love with Sety.









Shanan and Fee suffer moderate damage, but they're not in big danger.







Here we see a new tome, Hel, which attacks us with an image from the game's opening. In more recent Fire Emblem games, there's been a Dark spell that cuts its target's current HP in half if it hits. This is like that, only instead of cutting it in half, it sets it to 1. If the target already has 1 HP, it kills them. So it's a pretty good thing Aless dodged here.





For some reason the enemy hasn't learned not to attack Celice yet. Maybe someday they'll pick up the message.







Shannan dodges Fenrir, and Altenna and Tinny take a nap.



Meanwhile, Rados' army sets out to back up Chronos.





But not very quickly.







Also some Pirates start moving around.



So basically Rados' army (the red rectangle in the southwest) will back up Chronos and start killing the children (the green blob near the center), so we have to get to them fairly quickly to stop that from happening.







I apparently botched the screenshot here, but Hanibal activated Big Shield to negate damage here. It's actually really nice having that skill on our side!







Until we kill off the Sleep Bishops, it'll be Sety's job to Restore their victims.





And of course Leen dances for him so that he can get both Altenna and Tinny. I kinda got lazy setting up a diamond around where Leen would dance though.











See this is what I was talking about earlier with Arthur not being strong enough anymore. He'll leave this guy just shy of death.









And because even a few Dark Mages can be dangerous, Corple will heal up everybody.









Not too much damage done to us, and now Chronos is pretty much ours for the taking.



Provided these guys don't get there first.











I feel like I haven't used Lakche very much recently. Let's bring her up to the front of the pack.







Rescue's animation is pretty much Return's animation played backwards.








Looks like it'll be another turn or so just to reach the castle for both armies.



Though the bandits manage to start burning down villages right now.







We'll let Johan save the first village here.





Workin' on it, boss.





Arthur could've reached Chronos this turn, but no good would've come from it. Hilda's too strong for him to take, and there's surprisingly no conversation between the two.











Leaf helps Hanibal keep up, and is our first unit to hit level 30! Master Knights have a cap of 27 for pretty much all their important stats, so it looks like he's as strong as he'd ever be.



Let's look at Hilda now.



Pretty damn formidable. 50 Attack, 29 Speed, high defenses, and Fire magic along with that high Resistance means we can't trivialize her with Sety. Or at least not as easily as we normally could.



Volcanon is just a much heavier Tron/Tornado, so it hits like a truck.



Most dangerous of all, she has Pursuit. Luckily Volcanon should weigh her down enough that she won't double anyone, even with 29 base Speed.







Both sides are now almost at Chronos. Fortunately we'll get there just a bit faster, giving us a pretty great defensive chokepoint against Rados' army.



We'll start with Tinny attacking her aunt.





















Thunder beats Fire, so we don't have much of a problem softening her up.







Kind of ironic that she would say that right after gloating about how she tortured and killed Tinny's mother.







And with that, Celice also hits 30, capping all his important stats and being just off with Luck and Resistance.



We'll probably give this to Arthur, but I doubt he'll ever use it.





And Hilda manages to teleport away without even needing Julius to save her.



Let's seize.





However, in order to be able to open the gate to Miletos, we'll need to have control of Rados.

Got it. Our next goal is to take Rados Castle.

Since it's possible to capture Rados first, you get a slightly different bit of dialogue if you take Chronos second.

Levin, did you find the children?

No. I'm guessing they were moved to Miletos. We need to move. Their lives are in danger.



Well we seized unusually early in the turn, so we have time to set up a defense, and have the next castle's conversation right now.



So Oifey and Celice have a chat.





I am. I have so many memories from that place. Sir Sigurd and Princess Ethlin... Noish, Alec and all the younger soldiers I hung around with. They were all such good people.

Hm... I can't imagine. I've never even been there.

That's right. You were born in Agustria and then grew up in Silesia and Isaac. Come to think of it, you've never set foot anywhere in Grandbell, have you...

Yeah. I feel I've cheated the people somehow by me being a Prince of Grandbell and all.

I know it's difficult, but try to understand what they've had to go through.

(Music fades into silence)

The atrocity they've suffered is beyond words. That's why they desperately await the coming of their savior.

And that's supposed to be me?





They believe he has returned as the fabled child born of himself and Empress Dierdre.

The fabled child... People scare me at times, Oifey, looking at me like I'm a god or something.

Just see it as a sign of how brutal the empire's rule has been on them. Even in Miletos children are being abducted. Parents who resist are murdered outright. It's truly the work of evil forces... not of mankind.

Oifey, do you believe Emperor Alvis is the Dark Lord Loputousu?

A lot of people seem to think so, but I don't.

Do you think it's Manfloy, then?

Your Highness... the revival of the Dark Lord is well underway. We must hurry. The people revere you as a crusader, Your Highness. It's time to heed their cries.



This is where the chapter title, Light and Dark, comes into play. People consider Deirdre's two sons, Celice and Julius, as the Princes of Light and Dark.



Altenna's falling a bit behind, so she'll save one of the children to catch up in experience.



As always, rescuing a civilian gives a unit a full level.



So here I had Nanna, Delmud, Arthur, and Lakche form the main defensive line, with Lester and Leaf as 2 range backup.





Why on earth an axe knight would attack someone with a Silver Sword is beyond me.



Now the lance knight makes more sense, but he still only has 15 hit. Just our luck that that would be enough.



















So Delmud and Nanna take a few hits, some wounded enemies get healed, and now the miniboss is attacking Lakche with a Hero Sword of his own.





It doesn't work out well for him. It really wasn't a good fight. It was more of a slaughter, and he got a lucky hit in.



So that's it for Enemy Phase, which means that's it for this update. As always, here's some stats.